2015 Festival

The 2015 d:mic/fac festival was a grand success (check out our BLOG for the highlights)! Over two dozen artists were presented at the Betty Oliphant Theatre in Toronto in three different programs: Mainstage, What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) and Arts Encounters.

A series of pseudo rituals and dances creates an atmosphere that is impossibly sacred and superficial at the same time. Elements of pop culture and spirituality become interchangeable in this solo performance by Andrew Tay that questions modern society’s connection to the spiritual realm.

Diving into their own personal imaginary landscapes, two buddies wander in the desolate yet enthralling atmosphere of a sleepless night. This duet, performed by Jean-François Duke and Fabien Piché, is derived from the group piece Imaginarium, don’t feed the animals! but has been adapted to be autonomous and have its own specific character.

Morrison Series

In the wake of an unwelcome understanding, two performers journey together. Responding to one another and responding to a metaphorical agreement, La Jeune Femme et La Mort discloses a physical conversation driven by time’s uncompromising nature. This partnership tackles identity and the way we can be many things at once.

Based in dark humour and created within a contemporary dance frame, Little Guidebook for Using your Suffering Wisely is about a trauma survivor as she attempts to heal her post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms following the ill-advised guidance of a self-help audiobook narrator.

Throwdown Collective (Toronto) – World premiere of Various Concert.

Various Concert sculpts space and time in a constantly shifting dynamic of action and reaction. With the anticipation of connection, tension builds as recognizable structures fade in and out of visibility and the three performers gradually find points of intersection. What slowly emerges is a highly attuned dance of unsettled interdependency.

Sinha Series

Troy Emery Twigg (Kainai, Alberta) – Toronto premiere of Iitaypoyii.

Vibrations are transmitted from earth to universe and back again…from heart to soul through body through earth. Iitahpoyii, a solo for Justin Many Fingers, embarks on a journey to rediscover knowledge that forms his existence as a member of the Blackfoot Peoples recalling blood/body memory, breath, embodiment and natural rhythms.

What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG)

In the Late-Night Series (aka “What You See Is What You Get”), the choreographers/ performers of these 10-minute works drawn by lottery are:

Susie Burpee: Spirit and Veneer – A character arrives. We begin to think we know her, maybe even dare to love her. Then, a sudden transformation – and everything we believed to be true unravels.

Benjamin Landsberg Dance Projects: Befriend – “Be tender, be strong. Befriend me, belong. Be gone by dusk, but just be around. Be untold, be young. Behold. Be unsung. Just begin with me, before you end it.” – Quadron

Louise Moyes docuDance: Mavis Gallant Stories – A dance-theatre piece based on a short story of one of Canada’s most distinguished literary figures, expat Montreal writer Mavis Gallant (1922-2014) who lived in Paris from 1950 to 2014.

Parts+Labour_Danse: La chute – Dance and performance merge to explore what happens to a man when his identity slips between his fingers until he no longer knows exactly who or what he has become.

Alysa Pires: i am vertical – Originally created as part of DanceEast’s ChoreoLab in Ipswich, England, the work is inspired by the life and work of acclaimed American poet Sylvia Plath.

Visual Art Exhibit

Throughout the festival, the photography of Brianna Lombardo and Andréa de Keijzer will be exhibited in the lobby of the Betty Oliphant Theatre.

Walking Spaces

A participatory activation exploring walking as a meditative practice. Created with Anandam artists, members of Anandam’s Audience In Residence program and you.
August 13, 8:15pm | August 15, 5:15pm | August 16, 3:15pm

Dance Film Screenings

A selection of dance films will be screened.

The QLab workshop

Learn about QLab, the show control software that can create rich multimedia designs for live performances and installations from Debashis Sinha, our 2015 curator, sound designer and composer.
Saturday August 15, 10:30am